LCMSDS is pleased to introduce a new public outreach initiative, the Military History Podcast Series. The series showcases selected presentations from the 24th Military History Colloquium, held at Wilfrid Laurier University from 2-5 May 2013.

The first installment the series features a presentation by University of Waterloo PhD Candidate Kirk W. Goodlet entitled “Exploring Resistance in the Rural Netherlands: Zeeland and Occupation, 1940-1944.”

Goodlet’s research challenges conventional wisdom that the Netherlands as a whole resisted Nazi occupation equally during the Second World War. His talk focuses on the rural province of Zeeland, a strategic location due to its sparsely populated islands and widespread coastline. While effective resistance groups existed in the region, movements were localized and typically disbanded by Germans. Goodlet’s findings demonstrate the importance of reviewing certain norms in history, which may reveal a discrepancy between what actually happened, and a memory constructed after the fact. Considering resistance in the rural parts of the Netherlands helps paint a better picture of life in the occupied Netherlands.